Karaoke Forums

What I want to do is make money for the bar so I can continue to demand, and get, top pay for my market.

I could get a dozen awesome singers to come to a show, sip water or soda pop because they're trying to preserve their golden throats, and then buy wireless SM58's at several hundred dollars a pop, and go for a very thin sliver of the karaoke pie..

You guys are simply out of touch with reality.. or just can't see outside your little bubbles.

Having traveled from coast to coast, from the Canadian border to the Mexican border, and many, ,many places in between, the MAJORITY of shows are not top end high end equipment with premium sound systems.

That's just the fact, jack.

Sure, there are people who are HARD CORE karaoke singers that care what version of a song you have, or what mics you offer, or the brand name on the speakers.. but MOST people who go to hear or participate in karaoke shows just don't care.

The guy hosting a show with YouTube videos is proof.

People go to the 'real' host and complain that he isn't doing the same thing for cripes sake.

I can point to no less than a dozen hosts who use radio shack mics, and MTX speakers and Pyle amps that have VERY SUCCESSFUL shows for over 5 years at the same venue, and always have a full house.

I go into the place and my ears bleed from all the treble.. it just sounds like sh!t.. the mix is bad.. the mics sound like @ss.. the reverb is dimed.. but the place is packed every wednesday and always lots of singers.. because people just don't care.

Same with bands. Several bands playing EVERY WEEKEND for $1,000 a night.. premium money in any market for a 4 hour show.. and they SUCK.. BAD.

But they play the 80's dance music the girls want to hear and they have a solid following.

I'm not saying use that as an excuse to have crappy sound.. i'm just saying for a person to say that crappy sound is going to prevent a person from being successful in general is far from what actually happens all around us.. every day.

Just like the girls dancing in the front row don't notice if your guitar says Gibson on the headstock or Epiphone.. nor do they notice the tone difference between a Pod XT Live pedal or a real 1966 Twin Reverb driven by a TS808.. or a Gorilla amp mic'ed with a cheap Radio Shack mic.

I have corded SM58's available.. nobody wants them. They all want to sing in the cheapo Nady DUO's.

I am not alone.

The reason most of the KJ's running the successful, crappy sound shows aren't represented here is because they just don't care enough to sit around in between shows to talk about it on the internet.. or they just lurk here and laugh at the people who get their panties in a bunch when a strict rotation isn't followed, or people who think in most real world bars across the country, all this high end equipment is required to play a show in a bar that seats 100 people or less.

You guys are simply out of touch with reality.. or just can't see outside your little bubbles.

Having traveled from coast to coast, from the Canadian border to the Mexican border, and many, ,many places in between, the MAJORITY of shows are not top end high end equipment with premium sound systems.

That's just the fact, jack.

Sure, there are people who are HARD CORE karaoke singers that care what version of a song you have, or what mics you offer, or the brand name on the speakers.. but MOST people who go to hear or participate in karaoke shows just don't care.

The guy hosting a show with YouTube videos is proof.

People go to the 'real' host and complain that he isn't doing the same thing for cripes sake.

I can point to no less than a dozen hosts who use radio shack mics, and MTX speakers and Pyle amps that have VERY SUCCESSFUL shows for over 5 years at the same venue, and always have a full house.

I go into the place and my ears bleed from all the treble.. it just sounds like sh!t.. the mix is bad.. the mics sound like @ss.. the reverb is dimed.. but the place is packed every wednesday and always lots of singers.. because people just don't care.

Same with bands. Several bands playing EVERY WEEKEND for $1,000 a night.. premium money in any market for a 4 hour show.. and they SUCK.. BAD.

But they play the 80's dance music the girls want to hear and they have a solid following.

I'm not saying use that as an excuse to have crappy sound.. i'm just saying for a person to say that crappy sound is going to prevent a person from being successful in general is far from what actually happens all around us.. every day.

Just like the girls dancing in the front row don't notice if your guitar says Gibson on the headstock or Epiphone.. nor do they notice the tone difference between a Pod XT Live pedal or a real 1966 Twin Reverb driven by a TS808.. or a Gorilla amp mic'ed with a cheap Radio Shack mic.

I have corded SM58's available.. nobody wants them. They all want to sing in the cheapo Nady DUO's.

I am not alone.

The reason most of the KJ's running the successful, crappy sound shows aren't represented here is because they just don't care enough to sit around in between shows to talk about it on the internet.. or they just lurk here and laugh at the people who get their panties in a bunch when a strict rotation isn't followed, or people who think in most real world bars across the country, all this high end equipment is required to play a show in a bar that seats 100 people or less.

I have to disagree with you folks who are all about the sound. Most people don't sing. They can't keep time, don't have the ability to discriminate minute frequency differences, can't tell mild distortion, and that's when they're stone cold sober. Karaoke is just a release from whatever is bothering them in their day to day lives. It's like the difference between high and low budget toilet paper, it really doesn't matter in the end.

It's really sad you never experienced a show where 'most'of the singers were good - it can & does happen at the right places.

It happens at almost all of my places. I have said it before. I am not interested in running beginner karaoke. I do pay attention to the details, I adjust the sound for just about every singer and song. Those die hards - most do not really realize what I am doing, but I do know for a fact that they think they sound better at my show/s than at the others. As a result, I don't get a lot of $hit singers because they are intimidated by the talent that makes up the vast majority of my shows. All of my shows attract more spectators than singers. By spectators, I mean people who come in with no intentions of singing, and are not there with anyone who is singing. They are there simply to watch & listen to karaoke.

Does your average karaoke singer care about how they sound? Probably not. They feel like game show contestants that just got called to "come on down".

AGAIN, MUCH to your dismay, good singers can and do party & fill the till and not sip water or soda.

divas, people paying to get bumped, drunks wanting to take over all to have a good time get no special treatment from me. in turn they usually do not come to me. they go to the shows like are being described by Mtn. in turn the singers that are annoyed at shows like what has been described here, do come to me. and no Cheese, they do not sip water or soda to preserve their golden voices, those are the divas who want special treatment and they can sit on their pedestal elsewhere. they drink, do not get stupid (very often ), do not expect special treatment, and appreciate someone who cares about them and how everything sounds. it is actually very symbiotic.
Cheese gets his power drinking frat boys and dancers just wanting to party, which he wants...
and i get the fun singers who are there to sing, and remember our conversations tomorrow.
everyone wins, every singer has a place, every host style has a singer.

I must digress just a little bit....

Water drinkers were mentioned somewhere in this thread. I had a table of 3 people come out. I never saw them before at karaoke. They ordered 3 waters. The server brought them the water and asked for $3. They didn't have it. She said she would come back, and did so about 10 mins later. They had about $2 of change counted out (mostly pennies) and said that they were getting the rest. I went outside for a smoke and saw a mini van with all the doors open. One of them was scouring the mini van for change.

Eventually, they paid the $3 - like I said - mostly in pennies. Once they paid up, they started asking about the $500 contest and assured me that the male of the group was going to win it. He got his chance on stage and was the worst singer of the night. And one of the females of the group kept batting her eyes at me.

Yeah, you all can't even come up with $3 for water at a BAR and you think I would be remotely interested in you? (even if I were single)

the people who bring their own discs.. get miffed when a strict rotation isn't followed.. or have a fit when some DJ music gets played between rotations.. are often the water sippers.. and they often aren't good singers.. which is pretty ironic.

We bring our own discs in case you don't have our song. If we're waiting an hour or more to sing, then yes we want you to follow the rotation. We "sip" beer because we have to drive home and don't want a DUI. I make a point of tipping extremely well because I know I won't be ordering that often. If you've got 4 singers, play DJ music between every singer, but when you get over 10 or 12 singers, it seems like you shouldn't be playing DJ music but once or twice every rotation.

I'm just a chaperone for my wife who's a karaoke krack head. We do care about the quality of the system. We'll leave if it's bad. If you skip her in the rotation we'll leave. No we're not regulars on our first visit, but if you treat us fairly and have a decent system, we'll become regulars. When we visit a bar and all the singers know each other, then there's a 50-50 chance that she'll be skipped on the rotation. It's not right and it's not the way to turn new customers into repeat customers.

I keep coming back and reading this forum because most of you seem really professional. Great forum. Wish some of you were in my area. We have to drive 30 to 50 miles, one way, for a night out singing. And we do that every week end so we're often trying a new place. Some are bad, some are nice.

Wish some of you were in my area. We have to drive 30 to 50 miles, one way, for a night out singing. And we do that every week end so we're often trying a new place. Some are bad, some are nice.